Welcome to Covenant
You are invited to worship and enjoy fellowship at Covenant. We enjoy worshiping, eating and sharing fun together!
We strive to be a genuinely welcoming, nurturing community of Christians, seeking to include and incorporate all who come into the life and work of the congregation. We recognize that each person is uniquely gifted by God.
The church website can help you to see more about who we are and what we’re about. And, best of all, we look forward to having you worship with us on Sunday and participate in any of the church activities!
Covenant Presbyterian Church
Is located at 2881 Canton Road in Marietta, at the junction of canton Road and Piedmont Road.
Ample parking is available including spaces for those with disabilities in our own parking lot. An adapted restroom is available in our office building.
Our building has easy access. There are only a few stairs of steps.
The Church Office is open Monday-Thursday from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
Our Sunday Activities center around our Service of Worship, weekly at 11:00 a.m.
All are welcome to all of our activities.
Worship is central to who we are as Presbyterians. Our very breath comes from worshiping God! The community of faith, gathered faithfully in response to God’s call, is formed and shaped through its worship of God. Worshiping faithfully is the most visible expression of our faith in God. Worship at Covenant is characterized by hope, joy and grace.
We gather to Worship God each Sunday at 11 am and leave ready to serve through the week in the Master’s name. Each Sunday our Service of Worship is carried online - we use YouTube. Please request the weekly link.
All are invited to join us!
Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing...enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. – Psalm 100:2,4
Covenant welcomed new member, Bill Boyd May 14, 2023
Covenant welcomed new members, Dan Page, Debra Truitt and Kitty Thompson December 31, 2023.
Covenant welcomed new members, Doug and Paula Roberts May 28, 2023.
Covenant welcomed new member Joan Delzangle January 14, 2024.
Covenant welcomed new member, Pauline Deane June 18, 2023.
Covenant welcomed new members Jeremiah Thuku, Debbie Truitt, Linda Caudell, and Paul and Won Yun, to our congregation on Sunday, October 27, 2024.
COVENANT PARISHIONERS BROUGHT THEIR 2025 STEWARDSHIP COMMITMENT CARDS FORWARD TO THE COMMUNION TABLE TO DEDICATE THEM TO GOD’S SERVICE THANKSGIVING SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 24.
Music Ministry
Our worship is enhanced by our MUSIC MINISTRY which is open to anyone who desires to “make a joyful noise to the Lord” and enjoys music.
Covenant’s Choir, directed by Joyce Carr
MUSIC NOTES
Come and enjoy Sundays of special music. WE HAVE services with many varied music offerings.
Opportunities for participation in our Music Ministry include:
Adult Chancel Choir
Soloists, Instrumentalists, and ensembles
Singing for Sunday 11:00 AM Worship
Rehearsals: Wednesdays 7:15-8:45 PM
Sundays 10:00-10:45 AM in Choir Room #4 of Educational Building
Summer Schedule in June and July
Adult Handbell Choir
Ringing for Sunday 11:00 AM. Worship
Averaging six times each season
Rehearsals: Wednesdays 6:30 PM - 7:15 PM in Sanctuary
Months of June, July and August off
The Music Ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church presents special seasonal music throughout the year, featuring our choirs, bell ringers, string ensembles and soloists.
Contact the Director of Music/Organist, Joyce Carr at 770-422-5130 ext. 3 or jkcarr@covepres.com
December 15th. “A Service of Lessons and Carols from around the World”, a world celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. This service featured several church members who sang in various languages: Spanish, Dan Page; English, Richard Cook; Korean, Won Yun; and Kikuyu - a language of Kenya, Jeremiah Thuku. Doug Roberts will sing a solo in an Irish hymn; Cathy Farmer will sing a solo in an African American Spiritual; and the Chancel Choir sang an anthem which included a section in Zulu, a language primarily spoken in South Africa. Other carols and hymns include those of Italian, West Indian, English, French, German and American origin.
Thank you to our guest percussionist, Jeff Kershner, who played Steel pan.
We warmly welcomed Jeff Kershner, our guest percussionist for our Lessons and Carols Service. Mr. Kershner was born and raised in Vero Beach, Florida. He has Bachelor Degree in Performance and Music History from Florida State University and a Masters in Performance from Georgia State University. Mr. Kershner performs with the Atlanta Opera and Atlanta Ballet Orchestras and is principal percussionist with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra. He has also been a frequent extra with the Atlanta Symphony with whom he has recorded extensively. Jeff is the arranger and steel pan soloist for Latitude Adjustment Steel and is a founding member of the Centennial Jazz Trio. He is also an active freelance drummer and percussionist in the Atlanta area.
OUR GUEST MUSICIAN FOR CHRISTMAS EVE
We warmly welcomed Sarah Park Chastain back to worship with us and to share her musicality and her amazing skills on the viola.
A native of Marietta, Georgia, Sarah Park Chastain has performed, toured, and recorded with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on many occasions where she frequently plays as a substitute. Mrs. Chastain received her Bachelor of Music from the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Music where she was a student of Cleveland Orchestra violist, Mark Jackobs. She currently plays a 1987 William Whedbee viola. Aside from musical interests, Mrs. Chastain enjoys practicing and teaching yoga, playing video games, and spending time with her husband and their family.
WORLDWIDE COMMUNION SUNDAY, october 6,
To Celebrate the Sacrament,
“This is the Table of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
World Communion Sunday, October 6, with our beautiful Chancel Choir and Choir Director, Joyce Carr. Kathy Miller spoke in French, Dan Page in Spanish, Paul and Won Yun in Korean, Jeremiah Thuku, Kikuyu, in his native language, Kenya, Serah Karanja, daughter of Jeremiah Thuku, in Swahili, Kenya with our liturgist, Cline Graham.
Recently Pastor Don Esa did a series on
Christ’s Word to His Church Today
The Seven Churches of Revelation
The Church at Ephesus: When the Honeymoon Is Over
“I know what you have done... But...you do not love me as you did at first” (Revelation 2:2a, 4b).
The Church at Smyrna: When Trials Come Your Way
“I know your afflictions and poverty... Be faithful, even to the point of death...” (Revelation 2:9a, 10b).
The Church at Pergamum: When Truth Is Under Attack
“I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Nevertheless... You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam...” (Revelation 2:13a; 14a).
The Church at Thyatira: When Compromising Seems the Easy Way Out
“I know...your love and faith, your service and perseverance... Nevertheless... you tolerate that woman Jezebel... Hold on to what you have until I come” (Revelation 2:19b, 20b, 25).
The Church at Sardis: When Life Is Too Easy
“I know...you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains...” (Revelation 3:1b; 2a).
The Church at Philadelphia: When Faithfulness Brings Opportunity
"I have placed before you an open door. I know...you have kept my word and have not denied my name” (Revelation 3:8).
The Church at Laodicea: When Indifference Pervades our Thinking
“I know...you are neither cold nor hot... Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.” (Revelation 3:15, 20a).
SPECIAL SERVICES
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent.
By the fourth century, the Western church determined that the Lenten period of fasting and renewal should correspond to Christ’s forty-day fast mentioned in Matthew 4:2. By counting forty days back from Easter (excluding Sundays, which remain “feast” days), the church set aside the Wednesday seven weeks before Easter as the beginning of Lent. At one time Lent was primarily viewed as a period during which converts prepared for baptism on Easter Sunday. Later the season became a general time of penitence and renewal for all Christians. Ash Wednesday became the day that marked the beginning of the Lenten renewal. The imposition of ashes is often a central part of Ash Wednesday services. Ashes have a long history in biblical and church traditions. In Scripture ashes or dust symbolize frailty or death (Genesis 18:27), sadness or mourning (Esther 4:3), judgment (Lamentations 3:16), and repentance (Jonah 3:6). Some traditions also have considered ash a purifying or cleansing agent. All these images are significant in the church’s use of ashes as a Lenten symbol.
During the imposition of the ashes on one’s forehead, the words spoken are often “Remember thou are dust and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). Other pastors may say “Consider yourself dead to sin and alive in Jesus Christ,” or “May the sign of the cross be a sign of God’s love in your heart.” During the imposition of the ashes on one’s forehead, the words spoken are often “Remember thou are dust and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).
Other pastors may say “Consider yourself dead to sin and alive in Jesus Christ,” or “May the sign of the cross be a sign of God’s love in your heart.”
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday begins Holy Week, a time in the church year when we remember how Christ gave his life in love for the world. Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, greeted by people waving palm branches wanting to crown Jesus as king. But as the story of the passion unfolds, their shouts of praise turn to demands for his crucifixion; he receives a crown of thorns as he is handed over to be mocked and killed.
Maundy Thursday
On Maundy Thursday the church remembers the last evening Jesus shared with his disciples in the upper room before his arrest and crucifixion. There were three key events on Maundy Thursday:
Jesus washed his disciples’ feet.
He instituted (began) what we now call “The Lord’s Supper”.
He gave a new commandment to his disciples to love one another.
The name “Maundy Thursday” comes from the Latin words mandatum novum, referring to the “new commandment” Jesus taught his disciples (John 13:34). Worship services on Maundy Thursday feature the Lord’s Supper and, in some traditions, an act of foot washing or other signs of mutual love and dedication.
Covenant’s service incorporates the above-mentioned highlights along with some of the conversations Jesus had with his disciples. The conversations show Jesus’ understanding and extraordinary patience with his disciples’ weaknesses.
Good Friday Tenebrae Service
“Tenebrae” is the Latin word meaning “darkness”.
The Tenebrae Service dates to ninth century in practices in the Christian Church. The worship service is typically held on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, often in the evening to emphasize the effect of darkness.
Though modern Tenebrae services vary, usually there is a series of biblical readings about the Passion of Jesus, interspersed with hymns and music. Candles are extinguished one by one, signifying the darkness that overcame the earth at Jesus’ crucifixion. Holy Communion may be served. Another common practice is the stripping of the altar (communion table) at the close of the service, signifying the emptiness of the world without Christ.
Worshipers leave in silence to ponder the impact of Christ’s death and await the celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Day.
